Our Eco Fabrics
Not much thought is given to where our clothes come FROM.
How, and who made them. We live in a society of ‘want’ with cheap fashion items readily available. A culture of fast fashion encouraging us to buy it, wear it, chuck it. As the end user, at the end of the supply chain we have developed conditioned mindsets and beliefs that clothes are cheap. This, however, impacts much further back in the supply chain well before these clothes even hit the shops.
Do you ever think where your clothes actually come FROM?
The cost of cheap clothes has to be funded some where along the supply chain and its usually by people, in developing countries, who do not have the same democratic freedom we, in the western world, enjoy.
Earning anything, even a pittance, in inhuman conditions, can be survival for them and their families. Labor is cheap and sometimes life also, as seen by the clothing factory collapse in Rana Plaza, Bangladesh, killing more than 1100 people.
Cheap labor overseas has diminished the UK’s manufacturing industry as clothing brands source best unit price in order to stay competitive.
Fundamental to FROM Clothing is product provenance. Its integral to our whole design process. For everything we do we ask the following?
1. Where does the raw material come FROM and is it a sustainable commodity that will not negatively impact the fragility of the planet?
2. What processes are necessary to make the raw material into activewear fabric, are they safe, and how do they impact local communities and the planet?
3. What are the humanitarian markers and does our productivity positively impact the farmers, makers and manufacturers?
So far, 90% of the materials we use have the ECO story and do not have a negative impact socially or environmentally.
Why not one hundred percent?
As an active wear brand our products have to function and perform, so we use no more that 8% Elastane, enabling our designs to ‘give’ and work with the user’s body.
GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) CERTIFIED ORGANIC COTTON:
Organic cotton is a natural, renewable and biodegradable fibre, grown without the use of synthetic fertilisers or toxic pesticides. Organic farming systems rely on ecological processes, biodiversity and cycles adapted to local conditions, rather than the use of inputs with adverse effects. It combines local tradition, innovation and science to benefit the shared environment, promote fair relationships and a better quality of life in the developing worlds. GM, genetically modified, is banned in organic systems. Yields are not necessarily higher, however it costs more for farmers to use GM seed compared to organic.
Factory conditions are higher and do not use harmful chemicals such as formaldehyde and solvents, many of which are classified as hazardous by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and are associated with cancer, birth defects, hormonal and reproductive effects in wildlife and humans.
Our organic cotton is currently sourced from Chandigarh in Northern India. The raw cotton is harvested by individual organic farms and then taken to a GOTS certified collection consortium. It is transported by sea to Portugal where it is spun, knitted and dyed using organic dyes. The cloth is then cut and sewn into FROM’s sustainable active wear, yoga, pilates and lifestyle clothing.
We are chuffed to be featured in The Huffington Post as, quote, 'A Sustainable Product That Actually Works.'
We are committed to using only GOTS Certified Organic Cotton, so we can trust that it hasn't been mixed with main stream cotton supply.
LENZING TENCEL®: Evolutionary and Eco-Friendly:
The aromatic raw material that saves water.
Fibre of the Future.
Eco-friendly and economical.
Lenzing TENCEL® is a man made fibre made with Eucalyptus wood pulp, FROM sustainable tree farms, via the International Forest Stewardship Program, forest plantations which practice sustainability. It grows quickly and without any artificial irrigation. With a growing world population land is a scarce commodity; Lenzing TENCEL® fibre yield is 10 times higher than with conventional cotton.
Lenzing TENCEL® textiles are created via an award-winning closed-loop process that recovers, recycles or decomposes, all solvents and emissions. This special process received the “European Award for the Environment” from the European Union.
With superior moisture absorption compared to cotton, super soft, cool hand feel, and its ECO credentials, Lenzing TENCEL® is perfect to use in our pilates, yoga and active wear clothing.
MERINO WOOL: 
Our Merino Wool is ethically sourced FROM New Zealand and South Africa merino sheep farms that adhere to a no-mulesing policy as part of a continuous effort to ensure the health and welfare of the sheep. The natural properties of wool give handle softness with thermo-regulatory properties unique to Merino Wool, keeping you warm in Winter and cool in Summer!
Merino Wool is a renewable, sustainable resource - it simply regrows on the sheep after shearing ☺️
Why source from the Southern hemisphere? This amazing beast creates a super-fine, super-light, temperature controlling fibre that is unique to the environmental influences these countries have.
The UK climate is simply not harsh enough to develop the same quality of Merino Wool required to produce superior Merino clothing.
Currently our yarn for our merino wool tops is spun, knitted and dyed in Portugal where it is cut and sewn into our beautiful Merino designs.
NO BAMBOO – Boo Hoo ☹️
After lots of investigation into how Bamboo raw material is processed into yarn, we made a conscious decision NOT to use it in our ECO-friendly clothing. Believe us it was a toughie given its lovely soft feel, and how much our competitors already use it! We looked to our mentors, Patagonia, for their take on Bamboo, who have led the boycott stance on Bamboo as a 'not so' ECO-friendy fabric.
Considered a sustainable resource most Bamboo fabric has a smooth, silky hand feel, similar to Rayon, a generated cellulose fibre, which is converted through a chemical process called the Viscose process, which dissolves the Bamboo in a strong solvent to make a thick, viscous solution, which is “spun” in a chemical solution. The solvent used for this process is carbon disulfide, a toxic chemical that is a known human reproductive hazard. It can endanger factory workers and pollute the environment via air emissions and wastewater. The recovery of this solvent in most viscose factories is around 50%, which means that the other half goes into the environment, damaging local ECO-systems.
The appeal of Bamboo fabric is usually the drape and the hand feel which is a product of the viscose-type chemical processing. However an excellent alternative is Lenzing TENCEL® especially when blended with organic cotton. So there you go, why we choose at the moment not to use it in our product line.